An Era’s End

The other day I experienced the end of an era – more so than I ever have before. On Saturday, May 17, 1997, my parents gave me a present that turned my life into a different direction. The years before I was laways seen standing in awe of the church organist’s skill and on many occasions I tried to mimik much to the annoyance of the adults trying to converse in theology. Yet on that Saturday my time had now come – my parents took me to a strange new place that would become so familiar to me over the forthcoming years – my piano teacher’s crib.

Over the next 11 years I would pass from Grade to Grade annoying my teacher with lack of practice – to my dismay but also to my delight when I would be told, “You could be great if only you practiced!” He was right. I could be great, but for some reason my mind didn’t compute the last few words: “if only you practiced“.

The years seemed to roll by with discussions with my teacher on every topic possible but never too deep to cause the other to soul-search. I am really going to miss those.

I’ve only now, to a small degree, come to realise the importance of time – it is too precious to be wasted. Sadly, however, it’s only when time runs out when you realise, “What the heck have been wasting my life on?!” And there’s no point telling others about it; time wastage is truly something that you have to learn yourself and most of the time, you learn it the hard way.

These 11 years have gone by so fast, and although I very much doubt that my piano teacher is reading this, I just want to say thank you for all those years – they haven’t been wasted.